Tumble
by lucyjoan
Summary: Rose Weasley has always been a little absent-minded, but one day she goes too far, and something terrible happens.  RosexScorpius
1. In Hogsmeade

**A/N: So I have no idea where this story idea came from. I have a strange head.**

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><p><strong>Scorpius's POV<strong>

I smile as Rose intertwines her fingers through mine, gripping my hand with her smaller one. It hits me in that moment—I realize that it's been a long time coming, but in that moment it really hits me—that the only thing I want from life is Rose Weasley. Her innocent brown eyes shine as she smiles at me, her thick reddish brown hair falling into her beautiful face. Some of the other students glance at us as we walk, but I know that not one of them is confused. No one is surprised that a Weasley and a Malfoy are dating. No one has been surprised since Rose and I got together seven months ago. No one but me.

Rose Weasley is the perfect girl, and I find it hard to believe she finds me interesting. Sure, she's a little absent-minded, but she is the most intelligent girl Hogwarts has seen since her mother.

Rose and I walk a little way off the main path. There aren't so many students here. Most of them are hiding away from the snow, safe inside the Three Broomsticks with a mug of hot butterbeer. Not Rose and I.

Rose slips, just now, and I pull out of my thoughts to snake an arm around her thin waist. The snow is packed tight, here. I wonder why. This path is so far from Hogsmeade that I hadn't thought any human would set foot here.

I guide Rose to a wooden fence, a wooden fence that overlooks a sheer cliff edge, for her to lean up against, in case she might fall again. I meet her brown eyes again, and she smiles, more brilliantly than before.

She opens her rosy lips. "I love you, Scorpius," she says.

My heart swells. Sure, she's said it before, but for some reason, now, surrounded by the gently falling snow, on this path with the snow packed tight, I know it's true more than ever. I lean in to kiss her and she responds quickly, cold lips meeting cold lips.

She pulls away after a minute and draws me close to her. Her head rests on my chest, her face looks past the fence.

Suddenly she gasps slightly, a wondrous sound, full of excitement. She steps out of my embrace and reaches over the fence, gloved hand extended to a snow-topped flower, hardly alive anymore in this climate. Her hand is still far from it, though, as she reaches down more.

"Be careful, Rose," I say, though a smile is on my lips. She stretches out, her small body extending its furthest, trying to reach the flower. I watch, my smile widening, limbs locking from the cold. She gets onto tiptoe, and I see it coming too late.

For the second time that day, Rose slips on the hardened snow, her unbalanced weight propelling her over the wooden fence, where her fingers meet the flower she so desperately wanted. Her delicate face, I can see, breaks into a smile, but only for a moment as she realizes what has happened. Her fingers, her hand, her arm, crumple as she falls over, her head smacking a rock hidden in the snow, her legs flipping over the rest of her body, and again and again until she is no longer in sight.

My eyes are as wide as my smile once was, my face is frozen—almost literally—into a fading grin, my fingers outstretched—ever so slightly—a futile attempt to reach the girl I love.

The snow that once rested on the flower's delicate petals has fallen off, and the flower itself looks broken, broken, as broken as my heart feels.

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><p><strong>Okay, so that's it. As of right now, this story is done, but if you want I might add another chapter of two. What happens to Rose? What happens to Scorp?<strong>

**I don't know why, but I feel like telling you that I had the hiccups the entire time I was writing this little story.**

**Update (2/20): So I'm going to add more to this story, but it might take a bit for me to write the next chapter.**


	2. Hospital Stay

**Here's Chapter 2! I know chapter 1 was in Scorpius's POV but I think the rest of the story will work better in 3rd person.**

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><p>Ron sits in the hard, plastic chair, staring at his baby girl, anger coursing through his body. Rose was lying against harsh white sheets, her face pale, her lips blue from the cold. A bandage holds her head together, the bloodstains seeping through lie in sharp contrast to her auburn hair.<p>

The door to the hospital wing opens, and Ron stands to greet his wife, her face almost as pale as her daughter's. Hermione clutches Ron's hand tightly as she half stumbles toward the bed.

"How is she?" she manages to croak out.

Ron exhales largely before answering. "She's recovering. Her head is bleeding still, her hand is broken, and Poppy says she's showing signs of hypothermia."

Keeping one hand clenched on Ron's, Hermione reaches out and places her other hand on Rose's cold appendage.

Finally she brings herself to speak again. "What happened?"

Ron grips Hermione's hand a little tighter. "Nobody really knows. The students were in Hogsmeade, and I guess she was off with Scorpius somewhere. Scorpius claims she slipped and fell over a fence down a cliff." His voice now has a bitter edge to it.

Hermione stands up sharply. "Ronald Weasley!" she exclaims. "You are not _honestly_ blaming our daughter's injury on her _boyfriend_ who _loves_ her!"

"Why shouldn't I?" Ron demands. "He was the last to see her before she _fell_, and he's a _Malfoy_. The whole lot are up to no good!"

Hermione takes a little step back, letting go of her husband's hand and instead using the hard-backed chair for support. "I don't _believe_ you," she whispers. "I thought you were over this."

Ron's face is now maroon. "I _was_, until our _daughter_ mysteriously fell off a cliff and the only person to see it was _Scorpius Malfoy_."

Hermione is about to retort, when—

"Mom? Dad?"

The couple turns suddenly to see their son in the doorway, his nose red and running, his breath still exhaling in hot clouds, his face wild and out of breath.

"What happened?" Hugo asks.

"Rose fell," Ron begins to explain.

"I know _that_," Hugo interrupts. "I meant, what happened with Scorp?"

"Nothing, sweetheart," Hermione says, at the same moment that Ron says, "Scorpius pushed Rose."

Hugo's eyes grow to the size of a House Elf's. "He did _what?_"

"_Nothing,_" Hermione insists. "Your father is jumping to conclusions."

Ron says nothing, just collapses into the stiff chair by Rose's bed.

James and Albus walk in now, solemn, and cross the room to sit by their uncle.

"You were there," says Hugo, suddenly, to his oldest cousin.

James looks up. "Me?" Hugo nods. "I wasn't _there_ on the path or whatever," James backtracks, "I was in the Three Broomsticks with Roxanne and her boyfriend. I just saw Scorp running back onto the main path, screaming about Rosie."

"_See?_" Hermione says, to her husband. "Why would Scorpius freak out like that if he _pushed_ her?"

Albus stands up, so quickly he knocks his chair over onto Hugo's foot. "Scorpius _pushed_ Rose?" he exclaims, loudly.

"_No!_" hisses Hermione, pushing Albus back into his chair, which Hugo had propped up again. "See what you've caused, Ronald?"

Madam Pomfrey chose that moment to enter, arms crossed over her large bosom. "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, if the two of you cannot keep it down I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Ron and Hermione hang their heads slightly. "With the amount of time the two of you spent in here during your school days one would think you'd know the rules by now," she adds.

James waits until she leaves before bursting into laughter.

"Can it, James," Ron mutters, kicking his nephew lightly in the foot.

The door opens again and three of Rose's schoolmates enter, bringing the capacity of the room to eight.

The girls, whom Ron and Hermione recognize but could not put names to, gather around Rose's bed.

Hermione stands and moves toward the exit. She replies to Ron and Hugo's strange looks with "Only six visitors allowed at a time. Besides, I need to get back to work."

Ron nods and stands as well, but only after counting the heads to make sure he is required to leave. Hermione kisses her son's forehead, hugs her two nephews, and glances sadly at her daughter, and leaves, stopping by Madam Pomfrey on the way out to ensure that she would hear of any improvements in Rose's condition.

Ron waits a moment before leaving as well, as though hoping Rose will wake suddenly. When she doesn't, he says his goodbyes to his son and nephews and strolls out of the building, waiting only until he is just outside Hogwarts's boundaries before Disapparating away.

Scorpius sits on the floor outside the Hospital Wing, having heard all Ron's accusations. The doubt and mistrust break his heart almost as much as the thought of his girlfriend lying on the unfeeling hospital bed, unconscious.

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><p><strong>A little sad, I admit, but it'll get better. Let me know what you think!<strong>


	3. Awakening

**I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up! I thought I had it saved one place, but it wasn't there, and eventually I found it somewhere else. I hope you like it!**

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><p>A week passes, and Rose's condition does not get any better. Scorpius takes to the stiff chair by Rose's bedside on most days, but when he is out in the school whispers follow him. He doesn't know how, but apparently Ron's suspicious have spread across the cold grounds as though announced by a Howler. He finds himself under the constant accusing stares of many whom he had previously considered friends. He finds himself unable to work in the Slytherin Common Room, and therefore often finds himself working in a back corner of the library. Surprisingly, he is often joined there by Hugo.<p>

The first time this had happened, Scorpius had done nothing, but when Hugo came again, Scorpius found his voice to inquire why.

Hugo's response had been a shrug. "Everyone keeps giving me these sympathetic stares. Like, I know my sister's in the hospital, but that doesn't mean I can no longer function in society," he had told Scorpius.

Scorpius and Hugo show up in the library almost every day now, working, and when they're not working, they're just sitting, enjoying the guilt-free silence.

After a couple of days Scorpius asks Hugo something that has been bothering him. "You don't think I did it?" He screws up his face tightly; just saying it out loud seems like it will turn back the clock and make Scorpius's hand push Rose over the edge.

"Did you?" Hugo asks quietly.

The older boy's eyes fly open, hurt. "No," he says.

The shock in Hugo's eyes fades with relief. "I never believed it," he says, and the two boys relapse into an easy silence.

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><p>It's the Tuesday after that when something actually happens. Scorpius is in Herbology class with the Gryffindors-throwing sidelong glances at Rose's usual seat-when a second year enters the room, looking mildly terrified.<p>

The little boy edges his way to Professor Longbottom and tells the teacher something in a whisper. Longbottom nods once, sharply, and the second year flees the room.

"Albus?" says Longbottom. The quiet boy looks up, his untidy black hair sliding out of his eyes. "Rose woke up."

Albus stands up so quickly his stool overturns, and wastes no time gathering his things and rushing from the room.

Scorpius finds himself standing, the empty stool to his left entirely forgotten. Longbottom takes one look at him and nods, and then Scorpius is gone as quickly as Albus.

Once outside the greenhouse, however, Scorpius hesitates. Is he heading to interrupt a family reunion of sorts? Will Ron be there?

Scorpius doesn't see Albus, and knows that the dark-haired boy must have raced toward the Hospital Wing. Scorpius takes his time.

By the time he reaches the Hospital Wing, there are more than six visitors, but Madam Pomfrey doesn't seem to care. Scorpius leans on the doorframe and waits, listening through the slight opening.

"Why?" Rose is asking. "_What happened?_"

Someone inside sighs, rather loudly. "No one really knows what happened, Rosie," says James. "Scorpius was the only one with you."

No one says anything for a while, and then Rose speaks again, her voice so tight and cold it shatters Scorpius's heart.

"Where is Scorpius, then?" she asks.

"Exactly," Ron says, sounding triumphant.

Several people say several things at once.

"_What?_" squeals Rose.

"Oof!" says Ron, as though he has been hit.

"Dad!" says Hugo, sounding angry.

"In class," Albus says helpfully.

There is a pause as everyone tries to decipher what everyone else said.

"Did nobody send him up?" Rose asks, almost deathly quiet.

Scorpius steels himself and pushes the door the rest of the way open. He says nothing as he walks in, keeping his eyes firmly glued to the brilliant brown eyes of his girlfriend. He watches as they grow wide with joy, excitement, and…is that fear?

Anger pulses through his blood, but he keeps it from being visible on his face; hiding emotions is in his genetics. What did Ron say to her?

He reaches the bed, and suddenly he isn't sure what to do anymore. "How are you feeling, Rosie?" he asks lamely.

She grimaces. "I'm just _peachy_, Scorp," she shoots at him, voice laced with sarcasm. "I'm all set to go play Quidditch. Let's play with four Bludgers!"

Scorpius isn't sure why she says that, but he gets the point and puts on a phony grin.

Rose seems to know what he really wants, so she clears her throat loudly and glares at her family. Hermione is the first one to understand.

Hopping to her feet, the woman says, perhaps a bit too loudly, "Give them some personal space!" As if knowing her husband would not willingly cooperate, she takes his arm in a viselike grip and pulls him from the room. Rose's cousins and brother follow.

Rose's eyes are on the ceiling. Scorpius sits in one of the stiff white chairs.

"What happened?" Rose asks.

Scorpius opens his mouth. "You fell."

The glare he receives for this answer makes him wish he'd kept it closed.

"You were trying to get a flower," he begins again, quieter. "You reached over this little wooden fence, and you leaned a little too far. You slipped on the snow."

Rose has her eyes closed now, but she keeps her face turned towards her boyfriend. Her thin eyebrows scrunch up as she tries to remember.

"Red carnation…" she murmured. "Passionate love." Her eyes open. Scorpius can see it in her eyes; she doesn't need to say it. She does anyway. "I wanted to pick it for you."

Scorpius feels empty. It is his fault, after all this. It was his fault. He caused Rose to fall over the edge.

He stands. Rose struggles to sit. "Don't leave, Scorpius," she calls out, and she sounds so small Scorpius is afraid she'll shatter if he takes another step. Slowly he turns on his heel.

"It's not your fault," Rose says.

Scorpius shakes his head. "I should have stopped you, caught you before you fell."

Rose makes an exasperated noise. "I would _not_ have let you stop me. And anyways," she smirks, "you can hardly catch the Quaffle. Last game I scored sixty points on you."

Scorpius feels his face break out into an uneasy smile. Rose's expression softens, and she holds out her hand to him.

"Come here, Scorpius," she says. When he does, and when he takes her hand, she pulls herself onto her knees, on her bed. "I love you, Scorpius," she whispers. "Carnation or not." She cups his face with her other hand, her smooth thumb rubbing against his scraggly jaw. Without another moment's hesitation, Scorpius leans in and connects their mouths.

"I love you, too, Rosie," he says through their kiss.

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><p><strong>I'm thinking one more chapter. Let me know what you think!<strong>


	4. Happy Ending

**So this one is a bit shorter than the rest, but it's the last bit. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who read this story, and an extra-special thank you to everyone who reviewed.**

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><p>Rose sits on the edge of her bed, legs shaking in anticipation. She waits for Madam Pomfrey to reenter the room, hoping that today she will finally be released. She's missed a week and a half of school, and grimaces to think what she will have to make up.<p>

At this moment Madam Pomfrey bustles in. Rose upturns her chin, eyes hopeful, but lets her head hang again as the Matron stops at the only other occupied bed, a first year who slipped in the mud and twisted his ankle.

Finally she reaches Rose, smiling slightly at the young girl's ill-disguised hope.

"You're free to go, Miss Weasley," the old woman says, but the words are barely past her frail lips, and Rose is already gone.

Madam Pomfrey raises a hand to her chest. _These students are going to be the death of me,_ she thinks, trying to slow her frantic heart.

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><p>Breakfast is well underway by the time Rose reaches the Great Hall. A couple of younger students, maybe some of Lily's friends, wave at Rose nervously. Rose smiles back and enters the Great Hall.<p>

As she stands in the doorway, she realizes life is nothing like the Muggle movies she sometimes watched with her mum. Hardly anybody halts conversation, let alone the entire Hall. Her eyes flit to the Slytherin table and notice a distinct lack of platinum blond hair.

Disappointed slightly, she makes her way to the Gryffindor table and sits beside Albus, who turns and grins brightly at her.

"Where's Scorpius?" she asks.

Albus shrugs. "Library, probably," he says.

Rose frowns. Scorpius, in the library? How long had she _really_ been unconscious?

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><p>Rose has hardly set foot in the library when Madam Clearwater greets her with a smile.<p>

"How are you feeling, Rose?" the librarian asks.

"Loads better," Rose assures her, trying to subtly glance around the woman for sights of her boyfriend.

"I think you've been rubbing off on your friends," Madam Clearwater says with a smile.

This puts Rose's full attention on the former Ravenclaw. "Huh?" she asks, eloquently.

"Your brother and Mister Malfoy have been frequenting the library in your absence," Clearwater informs her. She nods her head to a corner of the library and then wanders off.

Rose, startled, hesitates for a moment before heading off in the direction Clearwater pointed out. She rounds a bookshelf and finds her brother and boyfriend sitting in silence, Hugo scribbling on a piece of parchment with a textbook in his lap and Scorpius leaning back in his chair, feet in highly polished shoes resting on the edge of the worn table. Neither boy notices the bushy-haired girl.

"Feet off the table, Mister Malfoy," Rose says, in a teasing tone of voice.

All six feet—four from the chair and two from the boy—are suddenly on the floor. Scorpius stands, a wide smile breaking out over his face at the sight of Rose. Hugo looks up from his essay, glad to see his sister, but Rose has all her attention on the older boy.

"Never thought I'd see Scorpius Malfoy in the Hogwarts library of his own free will," Rose says with a slight smirk.

Scorpius opens his mouth, but no witty comeback emerges. Instead he grins and says, "Glad you're well."

He takes a little step forward, and all of a sudden, Rose is kissing him.

Scorpius smiles into their joined mouths. _This is perfection_, he thinks.

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><p>It doesn't take long for Rose's life to fall back into place; in fact, by the same day she has already forgotten what it's like to be gone. She's spoken to all her teachers, and they've all given her the notes and assignments she's missed. She sits in the Gryffindor Common Room, smiling to herself as she reads over her notes and outlines a Transfiguration essay.<p>

"Rose!" Suddenly Hugo is in front of her.

Rose looks up, startled. "What's wrong?" she asks, taking in his urgent expression.

He grins. "Nothing's wrong. Scorpius wants to see you. He's waiting outside for you."

Unsure, Rose stands, saving her seat with a textbook, and walks gracefully to the portrait hole, aware of her brother's eyes watching her.

Sure enough, Scorpius is outside, leaning against the stone wall, something—Rose cannot identify what, in the dim light—in his hand.

He sees her and his face breaks into a smile. "Hey, Rosie," he says. "I brought you something."

He raises his arm, and it only takes Rose a second to identify the flower in his hand. She looks up at him, hardly daring to believe it.

"I ordered it this morning," he tells her, "as soon as I knew you were out of the Hospital Wing. It only just came, about ten minutes ago."

She takes it delicately, staring at it with wide, joyful eyes.

When she looks at him again, he is watching her with anxious eyes, hoping she will like it. She knows in that moment, from the combination of the flower in her hand and the expression on his face, that Scorpius Malfoy loves her.

"I love you too," Rose breathes, throwing her arms around Scorpius and kissing him fervently, the red carnation smashed into his beautiful blond hair, all but forgotten.

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><p><strong>There, my first completed multi-chapter fic! Let me know if you have any ideas for other stories, or if you just want me to go away.<strong>


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